Denmark is strengthening its national preparedness and readiness to help the NATO alliance in response to Russia’s special operation in Ukraine it labels an “invasion”.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called it “an attack on peace on stability in Europe”.
The prime minister herself, Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod, and Defence Minister Morten Bødskov all emphasised that there is no military threat to NATO, Denmark proper, or the Danish Realm at large, TV2 reported.
Nevertheless, the Danish government wants to send two F-16 aircraft to Poland to protect its airspace, as well as make a transport aircraft and a mobile hospital available to NATO.
Defence Minister Morten Bødskov ventured that the “brutal attack” left Denmark’s eastern allies “worried”. Therefore, Denmark’s key location in the Baltic Sea plays a crucial part, he added.
Denmark already has four F-16 aircraft in Lithuania to secure the airspace over the Baltic countries, while two fighter jets are located on Bornholm to repel “Russian activity” over the Baltic Sea.
Furthermore, the frigate “Peter Willemoes” has been deployed in NATO’s standing force, and it has also been decided to withdraw the frigate “Esbern Snare” from its mission in the Gulf of Guinea so that it can potentially join NATO’s so-called reaction force.
In the town of Slagelse, the military force has been strengthened with a battalion of up to 800 men, which within one to five days’ notice will be able to join NATO’s contingent, and next week some 200 soldiers will be sent to NATO’s advanced presence in Estonia.
Denmark is additionally ready to provide humanitarian assistance to those affected. According to Mette Frederiksen, the government’s recommendation is that Denmark should provide support both in Ukraine and its neighbours, but at the same time be ready to receive Ukrainian refugees. Frederiksen ventured that Europe was entering “a period of uncertainty”.
Early on 24 February President Vladimir Putin ordered a special operation in Ukraine, describing it as a necessary step to intervene in the Donbass People’s Republics that were facing a “genocide” and atrocities committed by the nationalist government in Kiev.
The Russian Defence Ministry emphasised that Russian forces are not targeting cities or social infrastructure in Ukrainian garrisons in order to avoid casualties among the military and their families residing there and ordered to treat the military personnel of Ukraine’s armed forces “with respect”.
Source: Agencies (edited by Al-Manar English Website)
